Searching For Memory

This biography of Brazilian journalist and activist Aluizio Ferreira Palmar (b. 1943) tells the remarkable story of a revolutionary who, after surviving torture as a political prisoner during his country's military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, would go on to devote his life to recovering the memory and documenting the evidence of human rights abuses in Brazil. Palmar's recounting of his life, in personal interviews with Jacob Blanc as well as from a wide array of source materials, offers a valuable window into how former activists view their place in history. In this context, Blanc initiates the concept of "memory scripts," which illustrates how scripting and performing a memory can serve as an act of perseverance and power, important for individuals and communities seeking both to heal from and redefine trauma for future activism. Blanc's book is a singular contribution to literature on dictatorship in Brazil and across Latin America by exploring not only what happened under military rule but also the contested channels through which the memories of these intense and often traumatic events have been sustained, shaped, and retold.